


Fucking Love-Struck Idiots

by tajn



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Jobs, Kissing, Let's Go To The Mall, M/M, Mavin, Mordor, Party, Pretzels, danray - Freeform, gamestop, kara and joel, mall, mallfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tajn/pseuds/tajn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray works at the GameStop and Dan picks up Gavin from the photo center everyday. The duo is too shy to talk to each other and nothing happens until Michael and Gavin notice the obvious attraction. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This was another lovely little secret santa gift!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twisted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [http://thepackwantsthed.tumblr.com/](/gifts?recipient=http%3A%2F%2Fthepackwantsthed.tumblr.com%2F).



> Happy holidays!!!

Dan was not a fan of soft pretzels. They were bland except for the hard chunks of salt that always managed to get stuck in his throat. A few times he had attempted to order a different type of pretzel but that went as well as he expected. And in the past three weeks, he had really started to hate the damned things. Yet here he was again. Buying the same salty pretzel from the same blonde, whom he had gotten to know quite well, and going to sit at the same gum laden bench. And it was all for that moment.

Dan pulled out his phone. 3:42. Dan sighed. Eight more minutes until it happened. Dan idly watched the people pass by and caught a glimpse of some of the usuals. There was the hip middle-aged woman with the faux leather bag in one hand and a grandiose frappe latte in the other. Then the teenager who had started at McDonald’s this summer passed by. Her skin had looked great at the beginning of the summer, but working in the grease pit had changed that. She was still pretty though, he guessed. Then the classically pretty girl passed followed by her equally as hot boyfriend, who was carrying all the bags again.

Dan looked down at his phone again. 3:49. Perfect. He cranked his neck to see as far down the hall as possible until he finally saw them. A glimpse of those checkered black and white shoes, then the dark wash jeans that held on loosely to his frame. Finally, the old lady moved and Dan caught a glimpse of GameStop logo on the guy’s t-shirt.

Dan honestly didn’t know what he saw in this guy. It couldn’t be the eyebrows, although they did have a quirky-ness to them. Maybe the glasses… they made him pull off the hot-and-nerdy look pretty well.

“Hey Ray!” One of Ray’s co-workers called from within the GameStop across from Dan.

Ray pulled out one of his ear-buds and grinned. “You play Mordor yet?” Ray said completely skipping out on the formalities.

It totally was the smile. Dan thought as his stomach twisted in second hand happiness.

“Hey B” Dan was pulled from his thoughts at the familiar voice.

“Hey Gav, how was work?” Dan said crinkling up the empty pretzel bag and tossing it in the garbage bin beside him. Dan brushed off the crumbs and stood up beside his friend.

“Bloody awful as usual.” Gavin said rolling his eyes. “There was this one lady who couldn’t bloody understand why I couldn’t just poof the pictures onto the pages. I tried to explain that…” Gavin continued but Dan focus was definitely not on Gavin. Dan gave a final turn towards the GameStop but when he did, he found Ray looking right back at him. Dan immediately looked away and his eyes magnetized to the ground. And Dan walked a little faster.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Stupid little shits always messing up my shelves and never buying a damned thing.” Michael said with pent up bitterness. “What the fuck are you looking at?” Michael said glancing up at Ray, who hadn’t even begun to organize the 3DS games.

“Nobody.” Ray said sheepishly and began straightening up the games. “Nothing,” Ray quickly corrected himself.

“Bullshit. It’s that pretzel guy again,” Michael said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Maybe.” Ray mumbled.

“If you’re into him, then talk to him,” Michael said rolling his eyes. Ray had come out to Michael years ago and he was beyond the awkwardness of talking to him about guy drama.

“Don’t have the time,” Ray said shrugging and not revealing the nervousness that stole any confidence he usually had around people, which wasn’t so great to begin with. 

“Then come to work like 5 minutes earlier dipshit,” Michael said moving onto the PS4 games.

“I was up till like 4 getting achievements for Mordor. I’m going to get as much sleep as I can” Ray said with a yawn.

“Dude, re video games more important to you than real life?” Michael asked with a scowl. A silence filled the air until the two burst out laughing. “But seriously, you should say ‘what’s up’ or some shit like that. Break the ice so to speak.”

“When did you become the love guru?” Ray asked.

“Shut the fuck up Ray.” Michael laughed. “Where’s the yolo-ing guy I used to know?”

“That was a thing like six months ago, stop torturing me with it,” Ray deadpanned.

“YOLO!” Michael yelled.

“Fuck you, man,” Ray mumbled and got back to organizing the games.

“Now that’s the way you gotta talk to the pretzel guy,” Michael said, grinning.


	2. A Change

“Hey Kara,” Dan said with a casual smile as he walked up the pretzel stand. “How’s Joel?”

“Alright,” Kara said fiddling with the annoying hat that she was forced to wear, “He keeps trying to get me to invest in-“

“The gold market?” Dan laughed. He had heard the two arguing about it before and it was pretty funny to listen to the two go at it. He was sort of jealous of their relationship. “Maybe I should take a look into the stocks.” Dan smiled cheekily.

“Please don’t. I already hear enough of it from Joel.” Kara said sighing. 

“Anyways, I’ll have the usual,” Dan said already taking out the prepared change from his pocket.

“You sure? You have been coming to this place for the past three months and you have always gotten the same thing. How about you try the new cinnamon pretzel bites. For you, they’ll be the same price as the normal pretzel,” Kara said already turning to prepare the newest addition to the menu.

“What’s the occasion?” Dan asked.

“Nothing. They are just new on the menu and I really got to practice making them. And such a loyal customer deserves a treat! Just don’t tell Joel though, he gets jealous.” Kara said winking at Dan, who just laughed.

“Cheers” Dan said after Kara passed him the bag of pretzel bites. He popped one in his mouth and gave thumbs up, “it-sh good” Dan mumbled. And he wasn’t lying. This was way better that getting those salty bits stuck in his throat.

Dan once again sat at the gum-y bench and waited, stuffing a few pretzel bites into his mouth. But today he didn’t even get the chance to take his phone out of his pocket. When Dan had glanced down to grab his phone he saw a flash of black and white. He’s early, Dan thought. And faster than usual. By now, Ray was only a few feet away.

“Hey,” Ray said half mumbling and only taking a quick glance at Dan.  
Dan could only gape and by the time he got his bearing back, Ray was already in the GameStop chatting with one of his co-workers.

“Bugger me.” Dan hissed and flopped his head into his hands.

“What did you do this time?” Gain said making Dan jump.

Dan hadn’t even noticed his friend come up behind him. “Nothing,” Dan half mumbled.

Gavin flopped into the seat beside Dan and grabbed a couple of cinnamon pretzel bites, “Is it about that GameStop guy?”

Dan’s head snapped towards Gavin, “How did you-“ Gavin had the smuggest smile that Dan had seen in a long time. “Yeah.” 

“Don’t worry,” Gavin’s eyes glinted darkly. “Your B will fix you up right,”

“What?” Dan said before Gavin grabbed one of Dan’s arms and began pulling Dan towards the gamestop. “Come on Gav. This is a bit sudden.”

“Gotta go head first and all that,” Gavin chirped and the two were already in the store.

“Bollocks,” Dan said and tried to straighten himself before Ray saw him.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“He just fucking stared at me dude,” Ray said running into the store with a pink tinge to his cheeks.

“What?” Michael said popping up from behind the counter.

“Pretzel guy.” Ray shook his head, “Not even like a polite smile or some bullshit. God, I must have looked like such a douche!”

“Nah, if anything he’s not into dudes and just thought you were being nice. He probably doesn’t know how to handle the idea that people can NOT be a piece of shit.” Michael said shrugging.  
“You think?”

“Ye,” Michael said, “No big deal.” Michael said his voice quieting and them adopting a level of professionalism. “Hey, welcome to GameStop. Anything I can help you with today?”

“I’m here to pick up Mordor.” A foreign voice said. “It’s for Gavin Free.”

Ray glanced over, then again. Pretzel guy was in the store. Shit. Ray quickly turned back to organizing the games but his interests lied in the conversation between Michael and Pretzel guy’s British friend. 

“Came all the way from Britain to get the game?” Michael said with a short laugh.

“Nah, just a few stores down,” Gavin said, “surprised I haven’t seen you around.”  
Ray took a glance back at the till to see the sandy hair British guy smiling at a rosy-cheeked Michael.

“If you have any questions feel free to ask my associate Ray.” Michael said quickly retreating to the back of the store but he had enough time to give sneaky thumbs up.

Ray felt his stomach drop as he turned to the two in front of the till and gave a polite smile. Gavin smiled back and shoved pretzel guy towards Ray, the man looked about as nervous as Ray felt. “Go and ask your question, Dan”

“Hello.” Ray’s voice felt automatic.

“Uh, hi” Dan said slowly. 

Of course this guy was British too and Ray couldn’t help but think how much it suited him.

“Is there anything I could help you with?” Ray asked, somehow keeping some professionalism.

“I was wondering… if you had … any good games,” Dan said.

“Tons. For what system?” Ray looked behind Dan to see that his friend was trying to stifle a laugh.

“Xbox One?”

“Those are near the back of the store on the left hand side,” Ray said hoping that the information he had given was correct.

“Thanks,” Dan said turning around and began to stiffly walk towards the back of the store.

Michael returned with the game and hissed, “Keep talking Ray,”

Ray blurted, “So you like pretzels?”

“They’re alright,” Dan, said turning back towards Gavin and Ray saw how red Dan’s face was. “Thanks for the help but it seems my friend is all done and I don’t want to keep him waiting,” Dan said quickly. “See you around though,” Dan flashed a smile before pulling Gavin out of the store.

“Damn,” Michael said watching Dan drag Gavin down the hall. “Accents are hot as shit,”

“Yeah,” Ray said.

“So, what’d you say that made him piss off?”

“No idea dude,” Ray said deflated.

“Well you better figure it out by Friday,” Michael said clearly trying to suppress a smile.

Ray felt his stomach twist. “Why Friday?”

“I invited him to Geoff and Jack’s party,” Michael said exposing the smile. 

“They probably won’t even come though,” Ray shrugged but he couldn’t stop the small smile that was on his face for the rest of the shift.


	3. Let's Party

“Bollocks,” Dan cursed. “I can’t believe you talked me into this B,” Dan said looking into the bustling house.

“Come on,” Gavin said smiling. “You get to see whats-his-name and I get to talk to Michael,”

“His name is Ray,” Dan said somewhat defensively, “and Michael?”

“The guy who was on the register at GameStop,” Gavin said, “He seemed top,” Gavin said smirking and dragging Dan into the house and almost immediately they saw Michael and Ray.

“Hey!” Michael said waving and weaving through the crowd and Ray following close behind. Michael’s eyes focused on Gavin, “It great that you guys showed up.”  
Dan could help but smile when he saw Ray and Ray reciprocated the gesture. Dan hadn’t known what he had expected when he saw Ray in his street clothes but it certainly wasn’t a hippo shirt. Although, Ray somehow made it work.  
“  
Might as well,” Gavin shrugged nonchalantly but Dan could see how excited Gavin was.

“So… you wanna go get a shot?” Michael said looking towards the near empty kitchen.

“Sure,” Gavin said.

“What about you…” Michael said finally looking at Dan.

“Dan,” Dan supplied. “And no thanks, I’m driving.” Dan patted his keys in his pocket solemnly.

“Alright see you in a bit B” Gavin said smiling and giving Dan the thumbs up.   
They stood in silence as Gavin and Michael left until Ray cleared his throat. “So,” Ray said with a hint of hesitance in his voice, “Your boyfriend seems nice.” Ray took a swig out of his water bottle.

“My what? You mean Gavin?” Dan said almost spitting out his drink, “He’s just my best mate.”

“Oh” Ray’s face becoming pink.

“I’m actually not dating anyone at the moment,” Dan said shifting on his feet.

“Me neither,” Ray said quickly. 

“That’s cool,” Dan said smiling. “Girls can be trouble.”

“That’s why I steer clear of them.” Ray said analyzing Dan’s reaction, which looked slightly relieved.

“Same. Girls ain’t my cup of tea.” Dan said awkwardly.

“Same,” Ray felt his chest pop. “You go to the mall a lot,” Ray commented and instantly his face flashed with worry, “not that there is anything wrong with that. I was just wondering why?”

“I just pick up Gav cause he doesn’t have a car or a license,” Dan shrugged.

“I guess me and Gavin have something in common,” Ray said smiling. 

“You don’t drive,” Dan said.

“Only in GTA,” Ray smirked.

“It has first person now,” Dan blurted out. 

“It’s fucking awesome, isn’t it?’ Ray said looking excited and two continued to chat about video games.

Hours had passed and the duo had migrated onto the couches in the living room and their conversation had shifted as well. Dan had just mentioned the time that he and Gavin had bought and broke a giant water balloon. “The garden didn’t need a water for a bloody week,” Dan said grinning. Dan took a glance down at his phone that read 12:30 am. “Oh shit, it’s late,” Dan hissed.

“It’s not that late,” Ray said looking at his own phone.

“It’s just that I got a job interview tomorrow,” Dan shrugged.

“That’s cool,” Ray said looking a bit disappointed. “I hope you get the job,”

“Me too,” Dan said, “Have you seen Gav? I was going to give him a ride home,”

“No idea, do you think that he is still with Michael?” Ray said looking around the living room.

“Let’s take a look,” Dan said unconsciously grabbing Ray’s hand and standing up. Realizing what he’d done, Dan snapped his hand away like he has been burnt. “Sorry about that!” 

Ray’s face shone red but he was still able to reach his hand out and hold Dan’s hand. “I’m 100 percent fine with this,” Ray smiled. 

The two went room to room but they could not find their friends. They finally decided to check outside. When they opened the door, they saw Gavin and Michael kissing under the flickering porch lights.

“OH,” Ray said loudly.

Gavin and Michael broke apart and smiled at each other before turning to their respective friends.

“Time to go already?” Gavin said pouting and looking slightly drunk.

“Yeah,” Dan said, slightly jealous of how quickly Michael and Gavin had gotten together.

“Ray,” Michael said with his lips still red from the kissing. “I think I might be bi. At the very least, Gay for Gav,” Michael said pulling Gavin in close and giving him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek, which caused Gavin to squirm and squeal in delight.

“Alright,” Ray said nodding.

“Carry me, Dan” Gavin said running into Dan’s arm and Dan easily caught him.

“See you later Ray,” Dan called as he carried Gavin towards his car.

“We are going to double date the shit out of you two,” Michael called as Dan and Gavin left. 

“Shut up,” Ray said shoving Michael. 

“Whatever dude,” Michael said going back into the house, “Dan’s obviously into you,” 

“And you obviously want to get into Gavin,” Ray said. A small smirk playing on his lips. 

“Hell yeah. But I’m a gentleman who takes it slow.” Michael nodded wisely and pulling out his phone.

Ray peeked over to see who Michael could possibly be texting, everyone he knew was at this party. Ray sighed. “Are you seriously texting Gavin right now? He left like a minute ago,”

Michael shrugged but continued to text. Then Ray felt a blast of dread. Fuck, He had forgotten to get Dan’s number.


	4. All straightened Out

Chapter 4: All straightened out … kind of

“Good Morning!” Ray said a bit too enthusiastically. It was the day after the party and Ray had been working a couple of hours before Michael came through the door.   
“Good Morning!” Ray repeated a little louder.

“Shut the fuck up, Ray.” Michael grumbled and made his way into the backroom. When he returned, he looked equally as miserable. Michael took one look at Ray, who was currently grinning, and groaned. “I fucking hate how you don’t drink,”

“H2O is the way to go!” Ray said. 

“Fuck hangovers, man,” Michael rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“You at least remember what happened last night.” Ray’s mind immediately went to Gavin.

“I’m not a douche, Ray” Michael said rolling his eyes. “At least not one who kisses someone and forgets about it.” 

Ray felt some relief but it was tinged with something else. “So… you and Gavin are a thing.”

“He’s now my boi,” Michael said with a lovesick grin and he pulled out his phone and began to text.

“Fast.” Ray said quietly realizing that he was slightly jealous of the pair.

“What can I say?” Michael said. “I’m a passionate guy.”

“Is that him?” Ray said nodding towards the phone in Michael’s hands.

“Yep, we’ve been texting all morning. He drank more than me last night and damn, is he hurtin’ today,” Michael said grinning at his phone. “I’m surprised that I haven’t seen you text Dan at all.”

Michael said looking up from his phone in time to see Ray sheepishly look away.  
"You didn’t even get his fucking number?” Michael said his voice rising in shock.  
Ray shrugged as if he hadn’t been kicking his own ass about it since the night before.  
Sensing Ray’s self-hatred Michael said, “You know, I could get Dan’s number from Gav. Dan’s obviously interested so I don’t think he’d mind.”

“Dude, that would make me feel like a fucking stalker. I’ll just get his number the next time I see him.” Ray shrugged but secretly hoping that Michael would insist. 

Instead, Michael just smiled and nodded towards the door. “Then you better go get him tiger,” Michael said giving Ray a small encouraging shove.

“Goddamit,” Ray smiling and he made his way to the front of the store to meet Dan.  
“Hello, Ray,” Dan said with a wide grin.

“Hey,” Ray tried to avert his gaze from the bright, although a bit goofy, smile. 

“Sorry if this is a bit weird,” Dan said beginning to ramble. “I was going to text you but then I forgot to get your bloody number. Gav’s always saying I’m a bit daft. I was going to just get your number from him, Gav I mean. You met him at the party, I think. But Gav’s at work, and I saw you here~” 

“Get to the fucking point!” Michael screamed from across the store without even looking up from the games he was tagging. 

“Sorry,” Dan said. A small blush on his cheeks. “But first, let’s exchange numbers. Gav bet me a quid that I would forget again.” Dan pulled out his phone and handed it to Ray. 

“You better use that on our first date,” Ray said comfortable enough to relax his filter but Ray didn’t really know how Dan would react. 

“I’m not so cheap that I would only spend a quid on our first date,” Dan said in mock offense. 

“As long as it’s enough to pay for some taco bell, then I’m fine,” Ray said grinning. “Also you said you have something to tell me?” 

Dan did a small laugh. “Of course, I bloody forgot.” Dan said. “I was just going to tell you that I got a job at the mall.” 

“Really?” Ray said, his heart slightly fluttering. “When do you start?” 

“Starting my orientation today!” Dan said grinning. 

“Cool.” 

“I was thinking, if we had the same break we could hang out a bit or something,” Dan said suddenly become bashful. “My break’s at 4:15”   
“I already had my break,” Ray said. And saw how Dan’s shoulders sagged a bit. “But I get off at 4.” Ray quickly added. “I could dick around for a bit and then we could hang out,” 

“Brilliant,” Dan said with a even bigger smile than before.  
"Maybe get pretzels or something?” Ray said.

Dan’s face turned white. “Actually, I’m not really a fan of pretzels.” 

“Then why did you always eat then?” 

Dan’s voice was barely above a whisper, “Cause then I would have a chance to see you when I was picking up Gav."

“Oh.” Ray’s face was heating up. 

Ray heard a loud snort come from where Michael was. Ray glared at Michael who was trying to hold in his laughter. Ray could distinctly hear Michael call them, “Fucking love-struck dumbasses” 

But neither of them really cared at this point.


End file.
